At the Heart of Christian Worship: Liturgical Essays of Yves Congar: Review

At The Heart of Christian Worship: Liturgical Essays of Yves Congar, Pueblo Books, Collegeville, 2010
Book Review by Fr Mark Woodruff


Cardinal Congar was one of the most significant priests of the twentieth century. In the period between the World Wars, the massive learning and insight of this Dominican contributed to the re-evaluation of the teaching of the ideas of St Thomas Aquinas, not as a system of theology in which everything was nailed down, but as an inspiring journey into faith in the Creator, salvation in Christ and the renewing work of the Holy Spirit in the world and the development of the Church. He was an ecumenical pioneer, assisting Fr Paul Couturier’s renovation of the Week of Universal Prayer for Christian Unity as it opened up the Catholic Church’s idea of Christian unity through spirituality, and pointing to the work and creativity of the Holy Spirit in the life and history of other parts of Christianity, despite separation. At the Second Vatican Council as a theological expert he was able to ensure that the Church’s rediscovery of its identity as the Body of Christ in which all its members, lay and clergy alike, are integral to its communion and unity - not a merely hierarchical or juridical institution – was constitutionally enshrined in Lumen Gentium after 150 years of renewed teaching (from Johann Adam Moehler, to Lambert Beauduin, Henri de Lubac and Pius XII), and not left to become unfinished business, as it had been at Vatican I. He also saw that Newman’s thinking on consulting the lay faithful concerning the Church’s doctrine and on the legitimate development of doctrine was decisively received and placed within the teaching of the Roman and conciliar magisterium. Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II were deeply influenced by him in their earlier days, but for a time under Pope Pius XII he was prevented from teaching and publishing and this weighed heavily upon him. But Pope John called him from exile to a pivotal role at the Council – he influenced the drafts or redrafts of nearly every major document - and Pope John Paul completed his vindication by appointing him a Cardinal in 1994.

The five short and very readable essays in At the Heart of Christian Worship, not available in English before, are a tour of Congar’s great themes and penetrating principles, as they are translated into practice in the experience of most people’s regular liturgical life. “Real” Liturgy, “Real” Preaching observes how preaching, like worship and especially the mass, is no mere clerical exercise, or an end in itself, because its purpose is to produce an effect in the people who are the Church to which the Gospel is announced and the Church within which and for which the sacrifice is offered.  The Ecclesia of Chrstian Community as a Whole and The Structure of Christian Priesthood explore how the Church is not a merely hierarchical institution where only the priests celebrate the sacrifice and the lay faithful have no active role. Instead it is the priestly Body of which Christ is the Head in which all his members participate; the whole Church offers the sacrifice at the hands of the members consecrated to celebrate it, the priests who are never apart from the faithful but one with them in their action and their common benefit. Where does the “Sacred” fit into a Christian Worldview? and What is the meaning of Sunday? take up Congar’s constant theme of the wholeness of sanctification that comes from God’s grace – not only a whole People, but a whole world and all time. So priests are never special Christians, any more than Christians are special humans, or the Church a more perfect form of human society, or Sunday a more eminent day than the others – all days are sacred time, all the world is the Lord’s, all humanity is drawn to the Christ who is lifted up in the sacrifice offered in and by his Body, the Church.

These essays are essential reading for those at the present time who are approaching the unity of Christendom by entering more deeply into the mystery of the Church within their own community, as Pope Benedict once put it, whether as orthodox Anglicans, or Catholics, or Anglicans becoming Catholics through their Personal Ordinariate. Not only do they give valuable insight of the mind of the man who, arguably more than any other individual, shaped the way the Church came to describe itself and what lay “at the heart of its worship” in the late twentieth century, they also allow the reader to “think with the Church”, embracing the vastness of its conception of Catholic communion and comprehending that the true ecumenical movement is not simply the rapprochement of separate human traditions but the incorporation of the whole of humanity in the sacrifice of Christ offered “through him, with him, in him”, by his Body the Church, as the sole course of its salvation.

Mary Lamb, 1925-2010

At the end of 2010 Mary Lamb, a long serving and devoted trustee of the Catholic League died. The League was represented at her funeral by her fellow trustee, Mary Bacon.

Mary's working life was as a school teacher. She joined Combe Bank school Sevenoaks in 1976 as Deputy Head and also as a History Teacher and she also took on the role of Examinations Secretary during her time at the school. Mary left the school in 1991. Upon retirement she presented the school with a prize that is awarded each year at the school's Prize Giving day. “The Mary Lamb Form Shield” is presented to the form with the best “team spirit”. This is typical of Mary. She is fondly remembered by the staff of the school.

Mary was a faithful member of the Catholic League both as an Anglican and latterly as a Roman Catholic. She served on the Council for many years and was co-opted onto the newly formed Executive. In both capacities she was a valued member and she contributed much to the decision making process over the years. She could always be relied upon to offer a balanced and yet creative response to many of the more difficult decisions we had to make. Mary’s meticulous attention to detail was evident in the care with which she organised residential conferences in Walsingham and elsewhere for the League. Her particular humour and incisive thought will be missed by us all. Mary was also a regular pilgrim on our annual ecumenical pilgrimage to Bruges and she will be missed by her many fellow pilgrims there. A very private person, she was counted a friend by many, but little is known about her personally. If any member of the League can contribute any more details to this brief obituary, it would be greatly appreciated.

David Carter reviews "Anglicans and Catholics in Communion"

David Carter is a distinguished British Methodist ecumenical scholar, a leading figure in Churches Together in England's Theology and Unity Group and also the British Catholic-Methodist dialogue committee. In the past he was Secretary of the Society for Ecumenical Studies and is currently a member of the editorial board of the UK Benedictine Catholic ecumenical journal, One in Christ.

As editor of the Newsletter of the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary he is a notable reviewer of books with an ecumenical significance. He recently wrote the following assessment of the Catholic League's Messenger 292 (April-August 2010), Anglican & Catholics in Communion: Patrimony, Unity and Mission.

The League is grateful for this perspective from a disinterested and widely respected commentator on ecumenical developments and thinking. Some voices still question the Ordinariate's potential contribution to Christian Unity (even suggesting it could be harmful to it); others dismiss the idea that in England there can be such a thing as Anglican patrimony. Yet over the last year and a half it has been interesting to see how the imperatives we have promoted - Christian Unity and Re-evangelisation in Europe - and the cultural, spiritual, liturgical identity and responsiveness to society we have commended, features that an Anglican patrimony embodies, belong in the communion of the whole Church, not just within Anglicanism, have become the narrative others are now articulating.

If you would like to receive Anglicans & Catholics in Communion, a complimentary copy is available from the General Secretary, David Chapman, c/o St Paul's Bookshop, Morpeth Terrace, London SW1P 1EP, telephone 020 7828 5582. A donation to the Newman Fund (see the panel to the left) would be appreciated in return.

Anglicans and Catholics in Communion-Patrimony, Unity, Mission, edited by Mark Woodruff (The Messenger of the Catholic League, No 292, April-August 2010).

Mark Woodruff and the Catholic League are to be congratulated on this publication which is a valuable vade mecum for anyone wishing to understand the origins and basis of the Ordinariate as well as the hopes that may reasonably be entertained for it. Its canonical basis is clearly and succinctly outlined by Fr Gianfranco Ghirlanda and its rationale explained in other essays with particular attention to the understanding of catholicity as explained in the Decree on Ecumenism of Vatican II. Cardinal Levada explains that "when I say enrichment, I am not referring to any addition of essential elements of sanctification to the Catholic Church - Christ has endowed her with all the essential elements. I am referring to the addition of modes of expression of these essential elements, modes which enhance everyone’s appreciation of the inexhaustible treasures bestowed on the Church by her divine Founder". One might here slightly quibble with the cardinal. Surely, if the Church’s catholicity is wounded by virtue of the separation of any of the baptised from her, then, to a degree, so is her ability to offer the fullness of worship to Him, this being only complete when the entire family that the Son has gained for the Father is present "in one mind and heart together" (Acts 4:32)?

Fr Mark himself offers two excellent chapters, one on the question of the way in which Anglican orders can be "recognised or received" and one on hymnody as part of the Anglican patrimony to be shared with the rest of the Roman Catholic Church by members of the Ordinariate. One might just add here that, in a sense this is part of a wider heritage than purely Anglican since so many who have contributed to it have come from the free church traditions, Isaac Watts being the most prominent. One might add that though Charles Wesley would certainly wish to be remembered as an Anglican, it is Methodism that has preserved so much of his heritage.

Philip North contributes a particularly interesting chapter in which he asks how far Anglicans making the journey into Roman Catholic communion may be able, or not, to maintain the sort of ministry to the whole population of a parish that they currently exercise and value. This is an important missiological question and should not be overlooked by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference as they prepare the ground for the Ordinariate in England. John Hunwicke contributes a delightfully written essay entitled  Patrimony - What Patrimony? He argues that "we should be allowed to paddle around with our Anglican patrimony in the middle of the catholic mainstream" (my italics). He feels that much that traditionalist Anglo-Catholics value may be a timely gift to the Roman Catholic Church, stressing particularly that their concern for due awe and reverence in worship may fit precisely with the aims of Liturgiam Authenticam. I have some sympathy with this view, as I feel that in all the western Churches there is a need, particularly on the part of those ministers or lay preachers entrusted with the leadership of worship, to conduct it with dignity, to remember that it is not entertainment (a word I address particularly to the Free Churches) and to communicate a sense of awe and wonder particularly in preaching, praying and presidency at the eucharist. Fr John also stresses that the patrimony is essentially that of a tradition embodied in the people, the people in whom the anointing of the Spirit resides (1 John 2:20) and who have the sensus fidelium.

There are many other riches in this book which I heartily commend. Whatever the rest of us may feel about Anglicanorum Coetibus, I think we can all derive pleasure from two things. The first is that due provision has been made for a group of people who feel they must join the Roman Catholic Church but also take with them all that is compatible with that Church from their previous Anglican tradition. The other is to record the gracious words of Archbishop Rowan to the effect that he welcomes anything that allows the Anglican heritage to be more widely shared with the rest of Christendom.

David Carter.

Ordinations for the Ordinariate in Brentwood

Saturday 11 June 2011 saw the ordination of seven priests for the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in Brentwood Cathedral. At the request of Monsignor Keith Newton, the bishop of Brentwood celebrated the Solemn Mass with the Ordination of Priests, together with priests from the Diocese of Brentwood and the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Before the Mass began the clergy gathered across from the cathedral church as the bell tolled.  The Entrance Hymn, Praise to the holiest, has become something of an Ordinariate showpiece already – especially with the beautiful and moving tune Billing; a happy cocktail of Anglican and Catholic patrimony perfectly fused, just like the author of the hymn, Cardinal Newman.


The particularly effective arrangement by Andrew Wright, the Master of Music at Brentwood, was performed at the beatification of Cardinal Newman in 2010 and provided a very moving opening to the ordination Mass in Brentwood.  The tradition of well-appointed hymnody so often found in Anglican churches, as we shall see later, is clearly alive and well in Brentwood and the robed choir (cassock and Anglican-style surplice) made an impressive impact as the procession entered through the west doors.

The bishop began the celebration with warm words of introduction, recalling the historic nature of the day and linking it to the Solemnity of Pentecost and the Memorial of St Barnabas – both of which he went on to mention in his homily.

The Penitential Rite was concluded by the Kyrie from Palestrina’s Missa brevis, which we promptly followed by Gloria ‘de Angelis’, in Latin and helpfully printed in the Mass booklet in square notes.  The translation underneath the Latin lyrics made use of the new translation of the Missale Romanum which will come into use in England & Wales later this year.

After the Opening Prayer, the Liturgy of the Word began and was completed by the singing of the gospel to a modern tone.  After this the candidates were called forward by name for Presentation, Election and Consent.  The candidates were presented by the Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, Mgr Keith Newton. This was followed by the prayer of thanksgiving for ministry in the Church of England, and the homily.

In both the homily and the closing remarks at this Mass, the bishop of Brentwood made it very clear that he understands and respects the unique nature of the relationship between the Ordinariate and the Diocese.  He was particularly notable for his pastoral and caring acknowledgement of the fruits of the Anglican tradition and his genuine wish to see these – together with the people who bring them – implanted and given space for growth, within the Catholic Church in England & Wales: truly united but not absorbed.


After the homily, the Examination of the Candidates took place, followed by the Promise of Obedience.  In Religious communities, it is normal for these to be made to the Ordinary even if they are not the ordaining bishop; it would be a powerful symbol of the nature of the hierarchical structure of the Church, if a similar practice were adopted with a non-episcopal Ordinary of a Personal Ordinariate, especially when the ordination takes place in a church which is not of the Ordinariate.


After the Litany of the Saints and the Concluding Prayer, the bishop laid hands on the candidates and prayed the Prayer of Consecration over them.  Then, as they were vested in the stole and chasuble, the hymn Come down, O love divine was sung. This setting of words by Bianco da Siena, was translated by Richard Frederick Littledale (1833-90).  Littledale, who was an Anglican priest, was born in Northern Ireland.  He was very much within the Tractarian tradition of the Church of England, serving in parishes in Norwich and Soho, London, before taking early retirement due to ill health.  Despite writing a book entitled Plain reasons against joining the Church of Rome in 1880, he was a prolific translator of liturgical texts of the Latin and Eastern rites.  These included the Offices of the Holy Eastern Church (1863) and a number of devotional books.  He also wrote on the liturgical ritual of the Church of England in Catholic ritual in the Church of England (1861) and The Altar Manual (1863-77).  He is also known for his translation Christ enthroned in highest heaven. The tune, Down Ampney, was written in 1906 by Ralph Vaughn Williams and was included in the English Hymnal. It is typical of the post-Victorian hymn tunes of RVW, which often sought to draw on the English folk tradition more than the developed hymn-tune tradition of more Protestant and non-conformist sources.

After the Anointing of the Hands and the Presentation of the Bread and Wine, the Kiss of Peace followed with the singing of the Latin Veni Creator Spiritus.  The contemporary Catholic practice of using a large dish-like paten is one which is almost entirely alien to Anglicans, especially those of the Anglo-Catholic tradition.  To someone from that tradition it can seem incongruous to be presented with a gothic gold chalice and a dish full of hosts, rather than the traditional charged chalice and paten with host.


During the Preparation of the Gifts, the choir once more took charge of the music and very proficiently performed Elgar’s Spirit of the Lord.  Sir Edward Elgar, himself a Catholic, was a further link with the Ordinariate’s patron, Blessed John Henry Newman.  It was Elgar who composed a setting of Newman’s Dream of Gerontius. Today’s anthem, however, was very much of the Anglican cathedral tradition.  It is this sort of work that can be found on the music lists of Anglican cathedrals for Sunday Evensong – traditionally the slot in the week when a longer anthem is deemed appropriate.  It was a very effective Offertory Motet; setting words from the 1903 work The Apostles including Isaiah 61 and Luke 4.  Elgar, despite his Catholic roots, sets text drawn from the Authorised Version, the so-called King James Bible:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor:
He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted,
to preach deliv’rance to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,—
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord;

To give unto them that mourn a garland for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they might be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.

For as the earth bringeth forth her bud,
and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth;
So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel.

The Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer was then prayed by the bishop before the Sanctus from Missa de Angelis was intoned and the Eucharistic Prayer begun.  As at the diaconal ordinations in Wanstead, one of the Eucharistic Prayers for Masses for Various Needs and Occasions was used (B – God guides the Church on the Way of Salvation), concelebrated by the priests of the diocese and ordinariate.  Some of the new priests took a part in the Eucharistic Prayer and it was encouraging to hear the words ‘Keith our Ordinary’ recited publicly and aloud for the first time at an ordination.

After the Agnus Dei – sung from the Missa brevis setting by Palestrina – a cantor sang the Latin plainchant communio and the choir then sang Colin Mawby’s setting of Ave Verum Corpus during the distribution of Holy Communion.


Sweet sacrament divine was sung during Holy Communion and then, after the Prayer after Communion, the Ordinary thanked those present for their help in preparing the celebration.  The rapport between the Ordinary and Bishop McMahon is obviously good – these are two men who complement each other’s jurisdiction by a genuine and mutual respect for the roles they undertake in the name of the Church. Bishop McMahon responded with equally generous words, expressing again his personal joy and pleasure at the establishment of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, which described in relation to Mary as ‘her Ordinariate’.


At the end the Pontifical Blessing was given jointly by the bishop and Mgr Newton.  This is a liturgical gesture usually reserved for ecumenical celebrations but here, for the first time, the sight of the Anglican and Roman Catholic traditions joined in a sacramental sign which no person can dispute, was strong.  Liturgically it might be wise not to be repeated on a regular basis – for fear that, if nothing else, it appears too much like an ecumenical service – but at this warm and historic ordination, it had a very special and profound meaning.


By the end of the Mass, for the first time again, there were an equal number of priests of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in the building, as priests of Diocese of Brentwood.  It’s growing, and growing fast.

The Vocation to Unity: Westminster Ordinariate Ordinations and More Patrimonial Reflections

Friday 11th June saw five men, long-serving and dedicated pastors from the Church of England's priesthood, ordained to serve the embryonic parish groups of lay faithful that have accompanied them into the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, as priests of the Catholic Church. As at Southwark the previous Saturday, the event was marked with an air of intimate belonging to the Church as the one Body of Christ, as it was attended by the regular Cathedral congregation and the friends, supporters and pastoral groups of the five clergymen. Also in attendance were Sisters Carolyne, Wendy and Jane of the Marian Servants of the Incarnation, the monastic religious community that has been at the spiritual heart of the Ordinariate since before its formal establishment. In the sanctuary - or, as Catholic idiom would say, on the altar - were fifty priests, eight deacons, his excellency the Ordinary (Mgr Keith Newton ProtAp) and Bishop Alan Hopes (the Bishops' Conference's Episcopal Delegate for the Ordinariate), concelebrated with his grace the Archbishop of Westminster.

This being scheduled in the Cathedral's regular 5-30 pm slot for its daily Solemn Mass, the ordination liturgy benefited from the ministry of the outstanding Westminster Cathedral Choir. As we have tried to do with each of the great liturgies surrounding the foundation of the Ordinariate, we offer some reflections on what happened and how it exhibits the Catholic liturgical and spiritual patrimony, the Anglican liturgical and spiritual patrimony which in a real way originated from the Catholic and is now being given its own honoured space with the fullness of communion of the Catholic Church, and how, almost imperceptibly over the years, there has taken place that marvellous exchange of gifts from the one to the other that actually lies at the heart of spiritual ecumenism - that desire to excel in holiness that leads to convergence upon Christ and thus unity in his heart, mind and Body.

The Entrance Hymn was Edward Plumtre's stirring paean to the Church's unity and the constancy of the disciples, Thy hand, O God, has guided thy flock from age to age, set to Basil Harwood's fine tune Thornbury. Both are important parts of the story and identity of Anglicans, especially Catholic-Anglicans and we have contemplated that in our report on the Southwark priestly ordinations (here), where it also served as the Entrance Hymn. Once it was ended and the Archbishop  was censing the altar, the Choir immediately took up the  proper Introit, Sacerdotes Dei, with its Gregorian melody. This rather bore out the point Fr Mark Woodruff has made in his essay, Hymns: The Sound of Commmunion in our Special Edition of the Messenger, Anglican and Catholics in Communion, that it is possible, thanks to Anglican patrimony's experience and historic usage, to ensure that the English hymn does not simply supplant the Propers that are actually integral to the Mass of the Roman Rite, but can be skilfully deployed to complement them, whether in the parish setting or on great occasions in a Cathedral. In Catholic worship at mass, hymns are here to stay. The Gregorian chant patrimony is thankfully being retrieved and its integrity respected, but exposing the wider body of worshipping Catholics to it once more and making it more accesible to them will not aid necessarily be aided by abolishing the vernacular hymns, crafted over centuries of liturgical usage in other traditions, that have been embraced by the Catholic community and indeed internalised as they have found service in expressing the belief and adoration of Catholics too. Much benefit can be gained from these two great traditions of Christian praise meeting in their integrity, coming to terms and serving to enrich the Church's liturgy as they are set in their appropriate place.

The setting of the Mass was Mozart's Missa Brevis in B flat, K275. This is pure Catholic patrimony from Catholic Salzburg. Or so you would have thought. At the time of its first performance (believed to have been on old St Thomas's Day, 21st December, in 1777) one of the soloists was the castrato Francesco Ceccarelli, a friend of the Mozart family and for whom the Mass was written. Ceccarelli was renowned for his technique and the beauty of his soprano-register voice and his performance was much praised. But, even though his way of singing was thought very suitable for Church, his fame was as a singer at the opera and the Court. It lent weight to more "traditionalist" Church musicians' criticism that Mozart's B flat Mass was theatrical and even mocked the text of the liturgy. Indeed the Agnus is long and is set, furthermore, as a gavotte, which has led some to compare it to a gavotte at the end of his opera style, Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail. In other words, it was not seen by some as authentically sacred music. In 1903 Pope Saint Pius X issued his motu proprio on sacred music, Tra le Sollecitudini, in which he criticised the use of theatrical music at worship, especially where it had the effect of rendering the people passive spectators, as if they were attending a concert rather than actively participating in the liturgy (leitourgia, the work of the people). He ordered the wide restoration of Gregorian chant so as to enable the faithful's "active participation" in the Mass and the Divine Office. Mercifully, however, the development of the great tradition in which this motu proprio stands as a milestone has not deprived us of the great and joyous creations of a former age and culture and above all Westminster Cathedral Choir sets the standard on how it is possible to worship God at a Catholic mass in the vernacular, with a world-class choir, Gregorian chant in Latin, the "active participation" of the faithful (in the responses, the Litany, the hymn Veni Creator, the Sanctus and acclamation, the Our Father and the Agnus, as well as in some judiciously deployed gems from the English hymn tradition. What a treasury of traditions and gifts from many parts of the Catholic Church's own patrimony and what it has united to itself from other Christian traditions and - evidently - eighteenth century secular entertainment culture.

As at previous diaconal ordinations in the Westminster Diocese for the Ordinariate, the Archbishop prayed the prayer of thanksgiving for previous ministry in the Church of England immediately after the rite of Election by the Bishop and Consent by the People, rather than immediately prior to the Litany of the Saints, its originally intended position when devised in 1995 (see this post for more details). Indeed this is where the prayer was placed at Southwark St George's Cathedral the preceding Saturday. Its use is at the discretion of the Bishop of the diocese in which the clergy are ordained for the Ordinariate, but it is interesting to see the different views on where it is best placed - as part of the invocation of God's grace, or as part of the candidates' presentation. On reflection, the Westmisnter view seemed appropriate that each of these men was not simply being chosen as a candidate for the presbyterate exactly like others, but as people with a long and faithful life behind them as ordained ministers and pastors. In the best ecumenical spirit, the Catholic Church was not merely embracing them as new Catholic priests, but uniting to herself their whole ministry, identifying it and recognising it, owning it and making it a facet of her own life and identity.

There followed a magnificent homily from Archbishop Nichols, evoking (as had the Entrance Hymn) the words of the Epistle from Ephesians 4, where St Paul describes himself as a prisoner, but a prisoner in the Lord, totally held by him and bound up with him. The archbishop went on to meditate on the unity of the Body of Christ, the unity of the priestly life but also how the unity in the knowledge of Christ that is at the heart of the Church's life is to be known in none other than the fullness of its communion, which the new priests will now be serving and working: "the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the Body of Christ." The full text can be read here.

The Archbishop, followed by Bishop Hopes, Mgr Newton and the fifty priests, among them several of the new Ordinariate priests who had been ordained at Southwark the previous weekend and former Anglican bishops Mgr John Broadhurst and Mgr Edwin Barnes, laid hands on the five candidates. After the Ordination prayer, the new priests were vested, not in silence as at Southwark, but as we sang the first three verses of Veni Creator Spiritus in Latin and not in Cosin's translation for the Anglican Ordinal as at Southwark. So having sung of the spiritalis unctio and the septiformis munere, the seven were anointed with Chrism. At Southwark the new priests, it seems, washed their hands, but at Westminster their unction was suffered to remain and imbue itself. The remaining verses of Veni Creator were sung as the people brought the eucharistic gifts and the Archbishop performed the porrectio instrumentorum to each new priest, their specific commissioning to celebrate the eucharist for and within the People of God with the means to do so: "Accept from the holy people of God the gifts to be offered to him. Know what you are doing, and immitate the mystery you celebrate: model your life on th emystery of the Lord's Cross." Then the Archbishop, Bishop Hopes, the Ordinary and the other priests exchanged the Peace with each of their new brothers in the priesthood. Each of these immensely personal and solemn acts of the Church as a Body, from the laying on of hands to the gift of peace, took place, as the Ceremonial of Bishops provides, without organ or choral accompaniment. This enables the faithful to enter into each aspect of the unfolding rite and its symbols, watching and contemplating, praying and giving praise and thanks to God. As the time slips by unnoticed, the dimesion is eternal.

For the Offertory Chant, the Choir sang Giovanni Gabrieli's Iubilate Deo - Rejoice in God all the earth; the man who fears the Lord shall be blessed. May the God of Israel unite you an dbe with you himself ... Serve him with gladness. We have already commented on the important musical influence of Giovanni's uncle Andrea on a succession of Church musicians, Catholic and Protestant, hinting how there is a deep root of Anglican and Evangelical Lutheran patrimony there, even if it is not immediately obvious in so obiouvsly a Catholic and indeed Counter-Reformation piece of music (Andrea's O sacrum convivium). Now here was a piece by his nephew, setting a psalm and perhaps indicating even more powerfully the growth of an exciting new departure in Church music in the tranistion from the Renaissance to the Baroque, that would not only set the terms of reference for Schuetz and Bach, but also Purcell and Haendel, and the composers working subsequently in the ongoing Anglican choral tradition.

At the Fraction, the lengthy Agnus from the Missa Brevis K275 was not used and the congregation joined together in singing the Agnus from Mass VIII, De Angelis. Mozart's Agnus was not cut, however; it served as the motet during Holy Communion. After the Communion Antiphon Ego vos elegi, all sang the hymn Alleluia, sing to Jesus by William Chatterton Dix  (1837-1898). Knowing hymn writers' and composers middle names is one of the by-ways of Anglican patrimony. If you have been raised as a choirboy - the decline of the church boys' choir is the loss of a unique nursery for priestly vocations and pre-formation - you tended to find time on your hands. The alternative to a rebuke from the choirmaster for misbehaviour was to pore over the available reading material, namely the hymnbooks and the Book of Common Prayer. Thus did you become conversant with the Table of Kindred and Affinity, the Articles of Religion (including the one about the unworthiness of the minister not hindering the sacrament, always a comfort during a long sermon), the hair-raising Commination service, and the service of Baptism for them that are of Riper Years. You also learned the names and dates of the hymn and tune writers: William Chatterton Dix (more famous for As with gladness men of old), Vincent Stuckey Stratton Coles (Ye who own the faith of Jesus), John Mason Neale (the peerless translator of Greek and Latin hymns into English hymn-verse), Frederick Arthur Gore Ouseley, Bt. (composer), Bishop William Walsham How (For all the saints), and not forgetting John Henry Newman (Praise to the holiest in the height). Dix was named for a Bristol forger of medieval poetry, on whom his father had written a biography, Thomas Chatterton. It was not this that prompted William to write sacred verse, but a bout of severe post-traumatic depression following a lengthy illness that almost cost him his life. The words of Alleluia, sing to Jesus are much loved and well known by Christians of many English-speaking churches, but the hymn has a line which made it especially resonant with Anglo-Catholics. Having hailed the Eucharistic Christ as Bread of Angels, the lines "Intercessor, Friend of Sinners, earth's Redeemer, plead for me" recall the terms of a particular avenue of Catholic Apologetic within the context of Anglicanism and the Anglo-Catholic and Tractarian traditions' efforts to catechise their fellow Anglicans in classic Catholic belief. Without pressing a distinction to far, while Roman Catholics might talk of offering the sacrifice of the mass, Anglican Catholics in a period where Catholic belief and interpretatoin is being proposed in a progressively more convincing way might explain that the Eucharist is a sacrifice, but not one that is a repeat of Calvary, but one in which (as the Prayer Book's eucharistic Prayer of Consecration has it) "the full perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world" is not merely being commemorated by us on earth, but by Christ the "sole Mediator" as he pleads his sacrifice before the Father. This little turn of phrase by Dix is a vein through which the blood of Angl-Catholicism has run and it evokes an important part of the history and formation to the Anglican patrimony that, through the Ordinariate, is currently being united with the Catholic Church's own consciousness. It comes from a time when an understanding of Catholic belief was being commended to Protestants in the Scriptural terms that they might understand and even come to accept. After all the Decree on Ecumenism 80 years later stated how important it was for dialogue to take place between different parts of the Christian Church not only so that we could all understand our different doctrinal approaches better but also so that we could express doctrine more aptly and truthfully. In this little flashback to the early second half of the nineteenth century we see that, indeed, no part of Anglicanism - Evangelical, or Anglo-Catholic, or classic Broad Church or Liberal Protestant - exists in a vacuum. All have been formed in a conversation with each other, a dialogue through history that has even been a bitter argument at times, but is nonetheless an exercise in the quest for comprehensiveness, the search for fullness of communion in faith and life together in the Body of Christ. It is important to remember that the Ordinariates, far from detaching the Catholic wing of the Church of England (as some critics have said) actually makes available to the Catholic Church access to this rich and deep tradition of dialogue and mutual formation, of Catholic Apology, of the ecumenical search for reconciliation and the resolution of theological difference in the one ecclesial Body. It is clear that members of the Ordinariate, lay and clergy, are not stereotypical Anglo-Catholics, but people who have drawn themselves together from various Anglican traditions, bringing with them varied customs, histories and cultures. This is not only a gift enriching the Catholic Church in England & Wales; it is potentially massive contribution to its ability to engage more deeply in ecumenical dialogue with other Christians and to its effectiveness at explaining and commending its faith and life in Jesus Christ - Catholic Apologetics.

A beautiful moment occurred as the congregation took up the Recessional Hymn. The Archbishop knelt on the sanctuary steps and received the first blessings of the new priests, kissing the hands that will now be Christ's own, that he had chrismated minutes before. The hymn had served as the Entrance Hymn at their diaconal ordination in Easter Week (see the relevant post here), St Fulbert's Ye choirs of New Jerusalem, translated by Robert Campbell 1814-1868). As this hymn is in English, it is tempting to say that this hymn, much loved at Easter in all parts of the Church of England, is part of the Anglican patrimony. But Campbell was a Catholic advocate from Edinburgh. Henry John Gauntlett's tune (note the middle name) is looked forward to by Anglican choirs and congregations as soon as they see it is listed, for they know what is coming. At the end of the strophes comes the tune's own distinctive "Alleluia, Amen". This was not used at the diaconal ordinations at Our Lady of Victories; perhaps Catholic liturgists are not aware of this custom. But at Westminster, when the organist continued to play, everyone knew what to do. Indeed, Alleluia, Amen.

The League, which was represented by four trustees (Fr Mark Woodruff, the Revd James Bradley who attended the Archbishop as deacon at the altar, David Chapman and Cyril Wood), warmly congratulates Fathers Gordon Adam, Peter Andrews, Timothy Bugby, Mark Elliott Smith and Antony Homer, promising our prayers for their people and the Ordinary in the tasks ahead evangelisation and of working for and living out the Christian Unity in Catholic communion of which the Archbishop spoke.

Sadly we cannot be present at each of the Ordinations or write a reflection on the momentous events that are unfolding, but we promise our prayers for all the new priests, all the groups of the faithful, as well as all those others who are discerning their path to service in the Catholic Church in the Ordinariate.

Newman Fund

From late 2010 the Catholic League has operated the Newman Fund to receive donations in support of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham until it was able to establish its own systems and charitable status. So far we have collected £29,500 with around an additional £5,000 due thanks to Gift Aid.

Approximately £11,000 of this is for the Ordinariate's general purposes, the remainder having been donated in respect of particular local groups. The Ordinariate gained charitable status in its own right a few months ago, but registration with HM Revenue and Customs has not been concluded, so the Newman Fund enables tax-efficient donations to be made online and by bankers order in the meantime.

Since Easter and the reception of nearly 1,000 as members of the Ordinariate, monthly donations stand at £9,984 in April and £7,821 in May (both before Gift Aid is added). We are currently conveying these funds to the Ordinariate. Once its own systems are all in place, we shall close the Newman Fund in favour of the Ordinariate. But for now it remains open, especially for processing tax-efficient standing orders and other online donations.

These funds are in addition to the substantial grant of £65,000 that the League has offered from its own resources towards the ordinariate's central administration and the Ordinary's office running costs.

 

Love is come again – Some Patrimonial Reflections on the Ordination of Priests for the Ordinariate at Southwark St George’s Cathedral

(c) Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

The ordination of seven new priests for the Ordinariate of our Lady of Walsingham at St George’s Metropolitan Cathedral, Southwark, on Saturday 4^th June 2011, brings the number to twelve, including the five former bishops, among them Mgr Keith Newton the Ordinary. Each one serves a group, ready to form a “personal parish” of the Ordinariate, within the territory of the Catholic diocese of Southwark, so it was Archbishop Peter Smith who ordained the seven, ordained deacon but a month ago at The Friars, Aylesford, to the order of presbyter in the Catholic Church. These were the first priestly ordinations of over 60 pastoral clergy for the Ordinariate to take place over the coming weeks.


The Liturgy of Ordination was notable for its intense atmosphere of expectation and prayer. If it was ever in doubt before, the seven men, supported by their parish groups and a number of the deacons of the Ordinariate and led by Mgr Newton, demonstrated that the Ordinariate has now passed beyond proving itself – it is evidently an ecclesial reality, a “particular Church” in its own right,. And so the concentration was not on an event but the operation of the grace of Christ’s Spirit in the life of the People of God. Fine music from the classic Catholic liturgical tradition was provided by a choir especially convened by friends for the occasion, but equally there were riches from the Anglican tradition – including the Anglican tradition of using the Catholic patrimony.


Recently a prominent Catholic liturgical commentator observed that the music of Johann Sebastian Bach is confessionally Lutheran and intrinsically pietistic and thus has little place in Catholic worship. Thank goodness this is not actually the belief of the Catholic Church, or the opinion of Pope Benedict. We should never cease to read again and again the words of the Decree on Ecumenism 4:

 It is right and salutary to recognize the riches of Christ and virtuous works in the lives of others who are bearing witness to Christ, … Nor should we forget that anything wrought by the grace of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of our separated brethren can be a help to our own edification. Whatever is truly Christian is never contrary to what genuinely belongs to the faith; indeed, it can always bring a deeper realization of the mystery of Christ and the Church.  Nevertheless, the divisions among Christians prevent the Church from attaining the fullness of catholicity proper to her, in those of her sons who, though attached to her by Baptism, are yet separated from full communion with her. Furthermore, the Church herself finds it more difficult to express in actual life her full catholicity in all her bearings.

So it was no mere organ piece chosen to precede the Mass. Bach is the theologian of the Lutheran Reform’s music. So much of what he wrote for use in Church was designed to serve and adorn the set liturgy Sunday by Sunday. No one thinks twice about the use of Bach’s music in any church service these days; but it is not half a century ago that either his organ or choral music and hymn tunes would hardly have been heard at all in a Catholic church, even at a separate organ concert. What is perhaps less well known is that Bach’s organ works did not start to become well known in England until the first half of the nineteenth century. This was in no small part due to the son of Charles Wesley (the great Anglican Methodist hymnwriter and brother of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism), Samuel. He was a gifted classical scholar, organist and composer whose erratic progress through life (following conversion to Roman Catholicism at the age of 18, he was admitted to Freemasonry for a time, served as organist in Anglican churches and conducted unconventional marital relationships) was the result of a tragic head injury at the age of 21. It was upon his eventual recovery some years later that he threw himself into the study of Bach’s compositions and promoting then among English musicians. His son, the more famous church music composer Samuel Sebastian (named after Bach), inherited his genius and introduced the choral music of Bach more widely in England outside London, notably the St Matthew Passion (incidentally, Bach wrote this for Palm Sunday, and there is a Bach Passion for each of the evangelists, reflecting the calendrical arrangements in Lutheran worship derived from the Roman Latin rite). This piece had been all but forgotten since Bach’s death in 1750, until Mendelssohn was given a manuscript copy in 1825 and he was able to arrange a revival four years later. This led to the revival of Bach’s music in Germany and thus animated further the interest provoked in England by Samuel Wesley, with Mendelssohn visiting Britain the same year and subsequently meeting him.


Thus the organ Music before the Mass comprised three Bach pieces – the Chorale Preludes Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, Heliger Geist (BWV 667) and Von Gott will ich nicht lassen (BWV 658), followed by the "Fantasia super Komm, Heiliger Geist" (BWV 651). It will be noticed that, far from being “confessionally Lutheran”, the first piece (from the Little Organ Book) is based on the melody for the German translation by Luther of the great Latin hymn by Hrabanus Maurus (776-836), Veni Creator Spiritus, which was sung later in the service to Bishop John Cosin of Durham’s translation for the Anglican Ordinal, Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire. Thus we heard a masterpiece that embraced the way in which Lutheranism had drawn on the patrimony of the Western Latin Catholic tradition in both text and music; that had in due course been received as a gift from Lutheran liturgical and musical patrimony in the Church of England; and that is now part of the common patrimony of all Western Christendom, finding an appropriate place in setting the scene for a Catholic ordination Liturgy, resonating with a piece of classic Anglican hymnodic patrimony.


The second Chorale Prelude sets the tune of a hymn by Ludwig Helmbold of Erfurt from 1563, translated by the great Victorian populariser of German-language Evangelical Reformed hymnography, Catherine Winkworth. She was raised a Unitarian but who gravitated to more orthodox Protestantism thanks to her love of its chorales. Her many hymn translations are standards in the  worship repertoire of all English-language Christian Churches, the Catholic Church included. Among the most famous are Now thank we all our God and Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation. The words of this particular chorale were especially appropriate for the ordination of the seven new priests and their personal journeys as disciples of Jesus Christ:

From God shall naught divide me,
For he is true for aye,
And on my path will guide me,
Who else should often stray,
His ever bounteous hand
By night and day is heedful,
And gives me what is needful,
Where'er I go or stand.

The last organ piece sets the melody of a German poem from the fifteenth century, so both are directly a piece of the medieval German Catholic devotional tradition mediated to the present day through Bach the devout Lutheran. The tune is believed to be derived from the 14^th century melody for Adesto, sancta Spiritus by Marchetto da Padova. Again, a piece of Latin Catholic patrimony absorbed into the Protestant Reformed Church and now finding fresh service in the Catholic Church. The words on which the music depended were fitting for the occasion:

Come, Holy Spirit, Lord God,
fill with the goodness of your grace
the heart, spirit and mind of your believers,
kindle in them your ardent love !
O Lord, through the splendour of your light
you have gathered in faith
people from all the tongues of the world;
so that in your praise Lord, may there be sung
Alleluia! Alleluia! (translation by Francis Browne, 2006 – gratefully acknowledged)

The whole Liturgy was marked by extended periods of silence. No attempt was made to cover these with the organ, hymns or choral music. This gave the service its spirit of anticipation and prayerful expectation. Indeed the tone was set by the offering by the choir of a familiar Easter Carol, set by its director, Mark Levett. Now the green blade riseth was written by the Revd John Macleod Campbell Crum (1872-1958, who ended up as a Canon of Canterbury throughout the 1930s and into the Second World War) and included in the influential Oxford Book of Carols in 1928. It is usually thought to be much older, because its tune is from a 15^th century French Christmas carol. But Crum's words were a perfect match for Martin Shaw to set the tune to for the carol book. Martin Shaw is an important figure in the story of Anglican liturgical patrimony. From 1908 to 1920 he served as organist for Percy Dearmer, vicar of St Mary’s Primrose Hill, who drew on Sarum customs (in deliberate contrast with Anglo-Catholic attraction to Tridentine and Baroque cultures) and scholarly principles behind the development of the Book of Common Prayer, to devise the so-called English Use, popularised in The Parson’s Handbook (1899) and The English Liturgy (an amplified working version of the Prayer Book rite, 1903 to promote weekly and even daily Eucharistic celebrations to a high standard), whose influences can still be traced in Anglican cathedral and parish worship to this day.  He worked with his friend Ralph Vaughan Williams (music editor) and Percy Dearmer (leading words editor) on the production of the English Hymnal (1906) and was, with them, co-editor of the hymn book Songs of Praise (1926) and the Oxford Book of Carols. He was a co-founder of the Royal School of Church Music in 1918 and did much to encourage community singing and thus choral singing in small parishes.


Crum’s words, doubtless conceived with a memory of the massive loss of life during the Great War and its devastating effect on the rural economy and old ways of life and culture, convey an image of the Church which had started to realise it had lost hold of the religious imagination of the people. In an age of rapid social change (disestablishment of the Anglican Church in Wales, the birth of the welfare state, the General Strike, decline in Church support and deference to authority,  and the collapse of centuries-old orders in Europe) people in the Church of England addressed the new realities with both appetites for change and for denial – proposal and rejection of a Revised Prayer Book (1928), the modern Protestant Ecumenical Movement (1910 onwards), the Catholic ecumenical-liturgical movement (1907 onwards), the growing theological crisis of Modernism in Catholicism and Protestantism alike, and the revival of hopes, ultimately  inconclusive, for Anglican-Catholic corporate reunion through the Malines Conversations (1921-25). The words “Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been: Love is come again, like wheat that springeth green” aptly communicate this sense of grieving loss and Christian hope in the future as, even then, the clouds were gathering. In the present day, too, the Churches sense their vulnerability in the face of the relativist secular atheism that people opt for in place of the authentic engagement between Christian faith and society that most truly answers humanity’s deepest questions, just as Pope Benedict said on his visit to Britain in 2010. The Ordinariate is part of the Holy Father’s imagination for a reinvigorated Catholic Church that can carry out its mission to the world and specifically serve the re-evangelisation of culture in the “struggle for the soul of Europe”. So Now the green blade riseth fits today too. It was also poignant to observe in this great endeavour that the seven new priests had previously exercised devoted ordained ministries in the Church of England, the Catholic Church’s “ever beloved Sister”. Truly in a new ordination for a new purpose and ministry, “Love is come again” to them.


The entrance procession made its way into the Cathedral as this was still being sung; and so immediately it was ended we joined in the Entrance Hymn, Edward Plumptre’s Thy hand, O God, has guided thy flock from age to age. Plumptre (1821-1891, Dean of Wells from 1881) was not an Anglo-Catholic, but his hymn - a stalwart for Anglican confirmations, inductions of incumbents and other great Church occasions – could be something of an Anglo-Catholic national anthem. Its tale of articulating the Gospel in adversity and the teeth of opposition – and the unity of the Church which is intrinsic to the proclamation of the one faith – has long resonated with those who have been well versed for generations in the arts of Catholic Apology and sacramental catechesis in a Church setting that has at best tolerated them and at worst failed to understand and even undermine them: “Through many a day of darkness, through many a scene of strife, the faithful few fought bravely to guard the nation's life … we will maintain, unflinching, one Church, one Faith, one Lord.” The tune, Thornbury, was written in 1898 by Basil Harwood, once organist of the Anglo-Catholic stronghold that was St Barnabas, Pimlico (where his remains are buried), scene of “ritual riots” when it opened in 1850. This hymn, full of contemporary determination and dedication was thus also redolent with rich Anglican character and a noble history that is being brought into the fullness of communion in the Universal Church.


During the rite of ordination itself (or “priesting” as long-standing usage has it), Archbishop Smith used the prayer of thanksgiving for previous Anglican ministry as intended by the Congregation for Divine Worship, immediately prior to the Litany of the Saints and the conferral of the sacrament of order, rather than as part of the rite of the candidates’ election, which has been the usage in some areas. As the use of the prayer is at the discretion of the bishop of the diocese in whose territory the Ordinary has requested a candidate to be ordained, there is no necessary significance to be inferred into the location of the prayer. Evidently some bishops consider it right to cast in terms of the manner and source from which the candidates were chosen; others regard it as part of the invocation for the ordaining grace of the Holy Spirit. But there is an ecclesiological point involved in this litrugical question. Do these ordinations take place within the particular church, the Catholic Church in its own right that is the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham – or are they achieved by “going out” of the Ordinariate to seek the assistance, fellowship and ministry of the local Catholic territorial diocese? The Order of Service, with its tell-tale cover picture by Martin Travers (designer and illustrator to the Anglo-Catholic movement approaching its height in the interwar years) asserts that the Church concerned is the Ordinariate, with the Archbishop of the diocese of Southwark ordaining on behalf of the Ordinary. But “Keith” was not mentioned in the Canon as the head of the ecclesial circumscription and indeed he was “welcomed” by the Archbishop most warmly, rather than being seen for the purpose of the occasion as in some way the host. At the Canon, the Archbishop commemorated “me your unworthy servant and my assistant bishops” – in other words, the diocese of Southwark, not the Ordinariate. No one wants to make an issue of this, not least as the overriding feeling was of generosity and mutual support and assistance. But, still, we do not belong to the Catholic Church, or exist in communion with the Successor of Peter, in general terms, but always through our communion in the particular Church or diocese to which we belong. The Ordinariate is a particular church in its own right and is not under the tutelage of a territorial diocese or dioceses. Evidently the Ordinariate, for all that it is prefigured in Ad Gentes and the Code of Canon Law, is pioneering new liturgical and ecclesiological territory, especially as the Ordinary is not a bishop himself. So it will be interesting to see how Catholic communion is signified in the “reading of the diptychs” at the Eucharistic Prayer as things develop – clearly the Roman Rite does not allow for the commemoration of “Keith our ordinary” and, as the Ordinariate depends directly on the Apostolic See of Rome, only Pope Benedict’s name is apparently mentioned at Mass in the Ordinariate itself. But perhaps the custom in monasteries with abbots nullius (e.g. Grottaferrata) will be observed – to name the Pope and then the priest who is head of the community.


After the prayer of ordination, the hymn Come Holy Ghost (already mentioned) was sung not during the vesting, as for instance at the Westminster and East Anglia ordinations, but as the new priests were anointed with Chrism. This is surely better, stressing the significance of “thy blessed unction from above”, even though it is the hands and fingers that are anointed, not “our soiled face”. The tune is the version  of music from the Mechlin Gradual declared official by Pius IX in 1848, now seen as a debased form of Gregorian chant. While it was later supplanted in Catholic circles thanks to the researches of the Solesmes monks and the ensuing Liturgical Movement, for the second half of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, it will have been seen as definitive by Anglicans looking to receive and recover their historic Gregorian chant patrimony by looking to the current practice of the Roman Catholic Church. So it is different from the Sarum version commended in the English Hymnal, as much as it is different from the Solesmes monastic and Roman chant versions as restored and now familiar in the Catholic community. But learning it and fitting it to the revered words of Bishop Cosin (even with a truncated doxology that is favourite and distinguishing mark of Anglican usage) it must have been deeply aspirational.


The long and prayerful silences during the rite of ordination brought it home how very much, in the Catholic Church, this was no ordination of a grouping of priests. The procession of symbols and actions made it quite clear that each priest was being ordained to fill the sacred ministry of presbyter in and for the Body of Christ personally. Thus was laid bare the election of each individual (“upon … permission of the Holy See”, a phrase unique to the Ordinariate covering both the ordination of the married clergy and the extraordinary nature of the nonetheless ordinary Ordinariate), their kneeling individually to promise obedience to the Ordinary in whose Church they are incardinated, the laying on of hands by all 30 or so priests present on each of the candidates in turn, their vesting, the anointing, the gift of the peace by all the priests present to each of the newly ordained priests and the personal entrusting to each new priest of the gifts for the Eucharist just brought up by the people. It was a momentous period, out of time.


The candidates had to kneel several times – and at length for the laying of hands – on the bare stone, without a carpet runner or kneeler. So an important piece of Anglican patrimony that was missing was the hassock.


The Offertory Hymn was from John Mason Neale’s translation of the 7^th century hymn to celebrate the Dedication of a Church, Urbs Beata, Jerusalem – Blessed City, heavenly Salem. We have commented before how Anglican patrimony in Catholic communion cannot be extricated from the work and legacy of hymn-writing and translation by Neale.  With the Second Vatican Council, it was instructed that he revised rites should restore the ancient texts of the Latin hymns that had been "improved" and in many instances utterly altered by the reworking that took place under Pope Urban VIII, a considerable scholar who preferred the purity of classical Latin verse to the vivid and rough edges of early medieval Latin as it was producing imaginative verse for the Latin liturgy. A number of the well known Catholic translations of the office hymns into English thus translate Urban’s work. Neale, however, translates the unrevised texts known to the Sarum use and other dialects of the Roman rite. Neale is unsurpassed as a translator of Latin and Greek verse into English. So using his work is not only part of the story of how Anglicanism re-received aspects of its own foundation and origins in the Ecclesia Anglicana up to the end of the Middle Ages, it is also a way of restoring to the Catholic Church, as it worships in the vernacular, a part of its own living tradition, which it has “loved long since and lost awhile”. The tune, Westminster Abbey, was by Henry Purcell, the major church and court composer (and Westminster choirboy), whose father had been Master of the Choristers at the Abbey from the restoration of King Charles II from 1661. Here again was a pointer to core Anglican patrimony and identity that has already been embraced and made part of the Catholic Church’s musical and liturgical culture in England.


There were several other gratifying features. The deacon (the Revd James Bradley, our trustee) sang the gospel to – we were told –  the simple tone commended for the new version of the missal. The Our Father was sung, not to the Rimsky Korsakov melody familiar at Westminster Cathedral, but to the adaptation of Sarum chant that has been sung for many generations by Anglicans. At Holy Communion the choir sang William Byrd’s Laudibus in sanctis. We have discussed before the relationship between this Catholic composer and his duties as a court composer for the Protestant monarchs Elizabeth I and James I. Much of his Latin sacred music was composed for clandestine celebrations of the Catholic liturgy, but this piece from the Liber Secundus Sacrarum Cantionum of 1591(dedicated to two powerful Protestant courtiers) is a setting of a paraphrase of Psalm 150 in Latin elegiac verse. A non-liturgical motet, it is not from the Catholic liturgy. Could it have been sung at court, or even in the Anglican Chapel Royal? If so, it is a nice piece of Anglican Latin patrimony, recovered to enrich Anglican choral worship thanks to the scholarly passion of E. H. Fellowes (a minor canon at St George’s Chapel, Windsor from 1900-51), happily pressed into the Catholic litrugy's service in the late twentieth century, as if it had always been part of it.

Laudibus in sanctis Dominum celebrate supremum:
Firmamenta sonent inclita facta Dei.
Inclita facta Dei cantate, sacraque potentis
Voce potestatem saepe sonate manus.

Celebrate the supreme Lord in holy praises:
Let the firmament proclaim the renowned deeds of God.
Sing the renowned deeds of God, and with a voice of holiness
Again and again proclaim the power of his mighty hand.

Magnificum Domini cantet tuba martia nomen:
Pieria Domino concelebrate lira.
Laude Dei resonent resonantia tympana summi,
Alta sacri resonent organa laude Dei.

Let the war-trumpet sing the wondrous name of the Lord:
Throng a celebration to the Lord with Pierian lyre.
Let resonant drumming resound with the praise of God most high,
Let instruments resound to the high praise of God in his holiness.

Hunc arguta canant tenui psalteria corda,
Hunc agili laudet laeta chorea pede.
Concava divinas effundant cymbala laudes,
Cymbala dulcisona laude repleta Dei.
Omne quod aethereis in mundo vescitur auris
Halleluya canat tempus in omne Deo.

Let hearts be attuned to sing of him with the slender-stringed psaltery
Let joyful  dancing praise him with agile feet.
Let rounded-out cymbals pour out divine praises,
Sweet-sounding cymbals fi lled with the praise of God.
To every age let the Alleluia sung to God from everything that is nourished in the world

Be heard in the heights of heaven.

Andrea Gabrieli’s O Sacrum Convivium  does not provide an obvious reference to the Anglican tradition, although it is a setting of an antiphon that is regularly used at the Choral Eucharist of many Anglican cathedrals and churches across the world. But it is worth remembering that the great master of Venetian renaissance polychoral style stands in, and is inseparable from, a kind of music “apostolic succession” that encompasses the Latin Catholic liturgy and the worship of the Reformation traditions from the Renaissance to the Baroque. A friend of the Franco-Fleming Lassus in Munich , to whom he sent his even more illustrious nephew Giovanni as a student, Andrea influenced the development of the Baroque style and the hallmark Venetian antiphonal choral style at Saint Mark's, of which he was organist to his death. His students were the Germans Hans Leo Hassler (a Protestant composer who also held Catholic appointments, writing for both Lutheran and Catholic worship - the famous melody of O sacred head sore wounded now belongs to all western Christian traditions)  and his nephew Giovanni. Giovanni was also influenced by the composing of Monteverdi and in turn influenced Hassler. Giovanni's students included Heinrich Schütz, whose influential musical legacy in turn culminated in the masterworks of Johann Sebastian Bach, the systematic theologian, so to speak, of Lutheran liturgical music.


Soul of my Saviour and the restored mass setting by Schubert in G firmly belong to the Roman Catholic patrimony, but Anglicans have made them their own, especially in the last three decades. So it was good to recognise a further instance of the mutual exchange of gifts that is spiritual ecumenism.


Finally, the great celebration ended with a much-loved Anglo-Catholic hymn in honour of Our Lady of Walsingham, now principal patron of the Ordinariate, Joy to thee, Queen within thine ancient Dowry. It is sung to Pilgrims, a tune written by Henry Smart (a convinced Protestant Anglican) for the inclusion of Father Faber’s Hark! Hark, my soul! Angelic songs are swelling in Hymns Ancient & Modern. Sadly, the authorship of this great stirring anthem to Our Lady as the healing, grace-bearing and protecting Mother of God, has long gone unacknowledged. Perhaps a reader can inform us on this important aspect of Anglican patrimony that has now found its way to make a home in the Catholic Church through the Ordinariate.


The League was represented at the Ordinations by three trustees – Fr Mark Woodruff, the Revd Deacon James Bradley and Miss Mary Bacon. We warmly congratulate Frs Ivan Aquilina, Stephen Bould, Simon Heans, Nicholas Levisseur, Christopher Lindlar, Christopher Pearson and Edward Tomlinson and we assure their people, the Ordinary and all the others soon to be ordained to the priesthood in the order of presbyter in the Catholic Church of our constant prayers.

Pastoral Message of CBCEW - November 1993

This message was first published by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England & Wales in November 1993:

As the first ordinations of women to the priesthood in the Church of England draw near, a number of Anglicans, both laity and clergy, who are unsure about their future in the Church of England, have approached members of this Bishops’ Conference. We are aware, too, that many others, in some ways represented by those who have approached us, await our response. In the light of these discussions, and of our own careful consideration of all the issues involved, we now wish to address publicly the questions they have raised.

Our responsibility, as bishops of the Catholic Church, is to ensure that the Catholic community in England and Wales, in its faith and life, is within the full communion of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, united in bonds of faith and sacraments, with a clear awareness of its universality. Our ministry as members of the College of Bishops in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, the successor of Peter, is one of the visible signs of that universality. Within this Catholic Church there is a clear doctrinal structure and vigorous debate, both of which are needed for Church life. There is also to be found a variety of styles of prayer and liturgical practice. The distinctive and complementary roles of laity and clergy, and women and men, are a point of continuing development.

Many of those who have approached us manifestly share this vision of the Catholic Church. Their concern is not primarily that women are to be ordained to the priesthood. Rather they are struggling with the question of the authority by which the decision to ordain women to the priesthood has been made by the Church of England and the implications of that decision for those who wish, above all else, to live their Christian life in the Catholic tradition. Many have arrived at the conviction that visible communion with the Bishop of Rome is a necessary element of Catholic life. They believe they can no longer work within the Church of England to achieve that end. To them we wish to extend a warm welcome.

Those who have approached us make very clear the personal sadness and distress which they experience at this time. For our part too, we take no encouragement from the difficulties being faced in the Church of England. The urgent task of announcing the Gospel in Britain needs the strength and vigour of all Christian communities. This same task also underlines the importance of the search for unity of life and witness among all the followers of Christ. Working vigorously for this unity remains one of our grave responsibilities. It is our conviction that this search for unity would not be assisted if another ecclesial body were to emerge from present doctrinal and pastoral difficulties.

Approaches have been made by clergy of the Church of England, both singly and in groups. In some few instances groups of parishioners with their pastors have also made approaches, enquiring about the possibility of coming into full communion with the Holy See, embracing the fullness of Catholic life. After our Low Week meeting we stated that our aim in welcoming those who wish to join the Catholic Church must be their eventual total integration into the Catholic life of our dioceses. This remains our aim. Other paths have been suggested. We have looked carefully at the suggestions of the establishment of a Personal Prelature or of a Special Pastoral Provision, such as exists in the USA. We are of one mind that, in our particular circumstances, such alternatives would serve to increase the multiplicity of Church identities in an unhelpful and confusing manner. Our determination in this matter does not imply any lack of respect or esteem for the tradition, strengths and vision of Christian living represented by those who are approaching us. In fact the opposite is the case. We are convinced that the Roman Catholic community, diocese by diocese, will be enriched by the eventual full integration of those who bring with them not only the traditions of English Anglicanism, but also its commitment to reach out to those who are on the margin of Christian living, or beyond. But for this to be the case, it is essential that we strive to come together in a fully integrated manner, a challenge which will involved real change for all concerned.

It is this fundamental conviction that gives shape to the ways in which we have agreed to respond to those who approach us.

1. We welcome those who have served as clergy in the Church of England, and will endeavour to express in specific ways the value of the ministry they have exercised. We gladly acknowledge and esteem their faithful celebration of Word and Sacrament in the Church of England. We would never suggest that those now seeking full communion with the Roman Catholic Church deny the value of their previous ministry. According to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, the liturgical actions of their ministry can most certainly engender a life of grace, for they come from Christ and lead back to him, and belong by right to the one Church of Christ. We recognise in the ministry they have exercised a call from God. This is the basis for our readiness to assume a continuity of ministry, normally leading to ordination to the priesthood in the Catholic Church, depending on a process of mutual discernment. A period of study, preparation and integration, suited to the requirements of each person, will also be necessary.

We are convinced that our solemn duty to ensure the unquestionable validity of the sacraments to be celebrated with and for the Catholic community means that we cannot accept any residual doubts as to possible defects affecting the validity of the orders already conferred in the Church of England. This means we must ask all who are chosen to exercise priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church to accept ordination in our Church as the fulfilment of their ministry and its full integration into the Apostolic Succession. This is a difficult and sensitive matter, but we are reassured that so many who have approached us understand quite readily this need for certainty in such a crucial matter.

2. As is well understood, there are special difficulties faced by those who have thus far exercised ministry in the Church of England and are married. The celibacy of priests in the Church of the Latin Rite is the norm. It is a witness to the total love of Christ for his Church and a treasured part of our tradition. This is not at stake. In fact, it is shared by some who are seeking the fullness of Catholic life and priesthood. Rather, in these exceptional circumstances, consideration has to be given to the manner and extent in which it is possible, and desirable, to permit exceptions to this norm. This is because the discipline of the orders of those married clergymen who now seek full communion with the Holy See permitted them also to take up the vocation of married life. We understand and accept that they may well be convinced of the continuity of their vocation to serve the Catholic Church in the priesthood. This is a matter which we are pursuing with sympathy for those who have approached us.

3. In welcoming those pastors who approach us together with a group of parishioners, we wish to state that we respect and esteem the bonds of fellowship that exist within such a group and between the group and its pastor. While insisting that the decision of faith entailed in coming into full communion with the Catholic Church is always one  which must be made individually, we will do all we can to respect and build on those precious bonds of shared discipleship. Steps are now being considered which will enable a group to stay together for as long as it is wishes not only during any period of enquiry and exploration, and in the process leading up to reception into the Catholic Church, but also, if thought fit in particular circumstances, after that point. The process whereby that group becomes, in practice, fully one with the Roman Catholic local community may, indeed, be gradual. On the other hand, once important steps are taken, and misapprehensions or misgivings removed, it may well be that the common identity of full Catholic faith opens up a much easier process of integration into the local Catholic parish community than is now envisaged by some. The Catholic community in many parts of England and Wales is already characterised by a diversity of culture and background. It is Catholic faith shared within the visible unity of the Church which forms our identity.

At this important time, it is clear that the way forward requires of us all both generosity and patience. For many troubled in conscience difficult decisions lie ahead. We are exploring ways in which they can be given additional spiritual and pastoral support. We will do all we can to encourage the Catholic community to give a warm and generous welcome to all who join it at this time. Similarly, we will seek not only to protect but also to enhance key ecumenical relations so that ecclesial life may be strengthened and the service and common witness required by the Gospel given in our society.

19 November 1993

Resolution of the Plenary Meeting of CBCEW - April 1994

This continues our series of posts of texts pertaining to the transition and reconcilation of Anglicans into the full communion of the Catholic Church in the 1990s.

Matters relating to the Reception of Anglican Clergy into the Catholic Church.

Statement

In recent weeks and months approaches have been made by members of the Church of England unsure, about their future, to most of the Roman Catholic Dioceses of England. These have been both from individuals and groups, clergy and laity. Some have already been received into full communion with the Catholic Church; others are about to be so received; others are making first enquiries about what such a journey involves and how they will be received.

The discussions which have taken place, with individuals and groups, involving both bishops and Catholic laity, have made clear a number of important perspectives and some widespread misunderstandings. It is these we now wish to address.

First, there should be no doubt that those approaching us are not simply wishing to avoid the advent of women priests. To describe them in such terms is inaccurate and a real disservice. Rather they reveal depth of Catholic faith which is both impressive and moving. The doctrines they hold concerning the sacraments and the Eucharist in particular, including its reservation for prayer and devotion, are substantially Catholic. Many follow the same devotional and liturgical practices as we do; they have a deep respect for the Holy Father and acknowledge the primacy which is his as the successor of Peter.

It is important for members of our Catholic community to understand that for some of these Anglicans, especially the clergy, the principal aim in their Church life has been to help bring about the visible unity of the Church of England with the See of Peter. In their judgement, recent decisions make this no longer a realistic possibility within the Church of England, and lead them to seek that full visible unity individually or in groups. As we said in our statement of November 1993: “Many have arrived at the conviction that visible communion with the Bishop of Rome is a necessary element of Catholic life. To them we wish to extend a warm welcome.”

Secondly, it has become clear that question the key question from many who are approaching us is the view they should take the sacramental life they have faithfully lived as members of the Church of England. This is an important question for our Catholic community, too. It is the clear teaching of the Second Vatican Council that visible elements of the Church of Christ can and do exist outside the boundaries of the Catholic Church. The visible elements and sacred actions spoken of by the Conciliar Decree on Ecumenism include “the celebration of the memorial of the Lord's Supper” (para 22). These sacred actions, and the ministries by which they are carried out, are clearly to be found in the Church of England. Catholic teaching is, then, that the liturgical or sacred actions of those in the Church of England “most certainly can truly engender a life of grace and, one must say, can aptly give access to the communion of salvation.” (para 3). No one who is considering full communion with the Catholic Church is, therefore, expected to deny the value of the liturgical life they have celebrated in the Church of England, which has sustained them to this point. Rather they are coming to recognise that it is “through Christ's Catholic Church alone … that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained.” (para 3).

These perspectives have important consequences for the nature of the journey into full communion to be undertaken by those seeking full communion with the Catholic Church. Undoubtedly they will engage in a period of exploration of contemporary Catholicism, offered in discussion with the neighbouring Catholic community. But the period between their decision to leave the Church of England and their reception into full communion need not be lengthy. As the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults states, when speaking at the reception of baptised persons, such preparation is to be “adapted to individual pastoral requirements” (No 391). For those who have been accustomed to regular, if not a daily, Holy Communion in the Church of England, a lengthy delay before they are admitted to the Eucharist is not desirable. Their sharing in the sacramental life of the Catholic Church will help the process by which they come to an experience of being part of the local Catholic community.

As we stated in on the 1993 November meeting, in welcoming those clergy of the Church of England who are approaching us, “We recognise in the ministry they have exercised a call from God. This is the basis of our readiness to assume a continuity of ministry, normally leading to ordination to the priesthood in the Catholic Church, depending on a process of mutual discernment.” For some this has already begun. So, too, has the exploration of ways in which we can respect and build on the bonds of fellowship that exists between groups of Anglican laity who wish to lead a Catholic life and their pastors.

In all these matters we ask that the five principles enunciated in our 1993 Low Week meeting be kept in mind. They are:

1. the conviction that the fullness of Catholic life, and the Orders which part of it, is to be found in the visible communion of the Catholic Church.
2. the aim for those who seek to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church must be their eventual total integration into the life of the Catholic community.
3. that those seeking full communion are required to accept the teaching authority of the Church in matters of faith and moral, as exercised by the Pope as the successor of Peter and by the College of Bishops acting in union with him.
4. that we reiterate our commitment to developing ecumenical relations with the Church of England and with other Churches and communities; we will continue this dialogue and common effort in the new circumstances that now obtain.
5. that we are confident that the Catholic community will be enriched by the spiritual heritage of those seeking full communion and that Catholics will show generosity of heart as they work with us in the duty of meeting the needs of those who are now approaching us.

We are thankful that our ecumenical relationships remain good. Our commitment to the search for the full visible unity of the Church remains undiminished, rooted in the conviction that such is the will of Christ. His solemn prayer makes clear that this visible unity is necessary for the effective proclamation of the Gospel in our society:

“Father, may they all be one, just as you are in me and I am in you, so that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me.” (John 17.20-21) 

14 April 1994